The Uttarakhand High Court has set aside the conviction of two men in a 2018 gang-rape case from Haldwani’s Banbhoolpura area, holding that the prosecution failed to establish the charge of rape through conclusive medical and forensic evidence. The Court, however, upheld the conviction of one of the accused for the offence of kidnapping.
A Division Bench of Justice Ravindra Maithani and Justice Ashish Naithani delivered the judgment on February 12 while deciding appeals against a 2019 trial court verdict.
According to the prosecution, the victim, a woman with a mental disability, had gone missing and was later found in a distressed condition. Medical examination and forensic tests were conducted during the investigation, and the trial court had convicted the accused for gang rape.
Upon re-appreciation of the material on record, including CCTV footage, medical reports and DNA analysis, the High Court held that the medical opinion did not conclusively prove the commission of rape. The Bench noted significant lapses in the forensic investigation and observed that the forensic material failed to connect either of the accused to the alleged sexual assault.
The Court reiterated that criminal conviction must rest on legally admissible and reliable evidence and cannot be sustained on suspicion or conjecture.
While setting aside the rape conviction, the Court found that the CCTV footage and circumstantial evidence established that one of the accused had taken the victim away from the lawful guardianship of her family. Accordingly, his conviction for kidnapping was upheld.
Since the accused had already undergone more than four years of incarceration, which the Court held to be equivalent to the sentence for the kidnapping offence, it directed the release of both men.
Emphasising the need for sensitivity in cases involving vulnerable victims, the Bench nevertheless underscored that the requirement of proof beyond reasonable doubt remains the cornerstone of criminal jurisprudence and cannot be diluted.
